Monday, December 21, 2009

Parliament event

December 3 - December 9, 2009

I want to thank the Memnosyne Foundation and the founder Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk for sponsoring my trip to the Parliament of Worlds Religions in Melbourne, Australia. I really appreciate it. It was an experience of life time.

Dr. Harbans Lal’s continuous encouragement and support was incredible, I am grateful to him to make the attendance meaningful and successful. I thank my friend Adil Khan for being persistent that I should go when I was debating otherwise due to time, school work and the work and other constraints. Yasmeen and my kids Jeff/Fern and Mina kept up with me while I was getting up at 6 AM and stayed until 11 PM daily at the conference center.

Paul Carus award

My gratitude goes to friends who nominated me for the prestigious Paul Carus award including Dr. Harbans Lal, Dr. Basheer Ahmed, Phyllis Curott, Imam Feisal, Rev. Angie Buchanan and Rev. Bill Matthews to carry out the work of building bridges. The encouragement from Eboo Patel, Sada Cumber and Mary Ann is appreciated as well. I have written updates on the Facebook as well as my random diary at http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/

I was one of the nominees for the award and fortunately, the award went to the most deserving to IAPA, "Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa," an organization formed in 2002 that brings together representatives from African Traditional Religions, Baha’is, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews for their outstanding contributions to the Interreligious Movement by the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions.

IFAPA

"IFAPA," the acronym by which the award-winning group is best known, "models in a creative way, the peace-making potential of the growing interreligious movement," said Rev. Dr. William E. Lesher, Chair of the Council’s Board of Trustees. "The organization is comprehensive, representing the major religions of Africa and also geographically significant with a continent-wide reach and concern," he said. IFAPA’s most public activity has been in the area of conflict resolution, having sent interfaith delegations to Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, North and South Sudan and Togo over the last decade. Other IFAPA activities include a women’s project called, "A Mother’s Cry for a Healthy Africa," and a water project in rural Rwanda.

2014 Dallas

Tatiana Androsov was joined in by Rev. Bill Matthews and Mike Ghouse in placing Dallas for the 2014 Parliament venue. We had meetings with the Parliament executives to discuss about the viability of bringing the event to Dallas. We will be competing with Phoenix, Los Angeles, Bali, Istanbul and Bangkok. The program in Melbourne was borne by the Australian Government, The state of Victoria and the City of Melbourne. I feel positive about it, but we have to do the work and among several organizations in Dallas, we have the combined experience to put an event.

I am delighted that the Parliament gave ample time to the indigenous people from Americas, Africa, India, Indonesia, Australia, Fiji, Philippines, Japan and other areas. We needed to do that and am glad it happened, that really made me happy to acknowledge the ones, who were hitherto ignored by the society.

The theme of the parliament was “hearing each other and healing the earth” and the conference lived up to its theme by including every possible representation of humanity.

Dr. Ghouse has appeared in over 200 TV shows and is a frequent guest with Hannity and Varney shows at Fox News along with others. He has over 1000 hours of Radio Shows of which 700 were dedicated to interfaith and pluralism. Over 3000 articles have been published of which a 1000 were on politics, foreign policy, sports and movies, a 1000 for interfaith and pluralism matters and a 1000 plus on Islam. In addition Mike has conducted workshops on Atheist to Zoroastrian and every one in between.

INTRODUCTION

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions to media and to the public on important and complex issues of the day and is available to speak in a variety of settings such as schools, seminars, conferences, and places of worship, or the work place.

Mike is a frequent guest on Fox News, (The Hannity Show), and has been interviewed on nationally syndicated Radio shows along with Dallas TV, Print and Radio networks and occasional interviews on NPR. He is a member of the Texas Faith panel of Dallas Morning News and writes on issues facing the nation every week. He has spoken at international forums including the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, in Melbourne, Australia, Middle East Peace Initiative, in Jerusalem, the International Leadership conference, in Hawaii, and in Washington

The Foundation for Pluralism champions the idea of co-existence by respecting and accepting the otherness of those different from ourselves. The World Muslim Congress is committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. Heavily involved in both, Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and has produced outstanding public events to bring Americans together of different religions, ethnicities and races on common grounds of building a safe and secure America.

He is a speaker, thinker, collaborator and a writer on the subjects of Pluralism, the interfaith movement, cohesive societies, Islam, India, hope and world peace. Over 1000 articles of Mike’s have been published worldwide and two books are poised to be released this summer. His work is reflected in 4 websites and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
C
oncerned by the divisiveness, he saw the need to bring Americans together and founded America Together Foundation committed to building a cohesive America, indeed it is in response to ACT America which is bent on pitching one American against the other. We will be holding series of educational programs, conferences and workshops to address the issues that divide us such as Civil Right, GLBT, Quraan, Abortion, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Racial Profiling and Stereotyping.

The Annual Unity Day USA is in its 7th year now, it is a purposeful event to bring Americans together, on this Unity Day, we the people of the United States of America of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background will gather to express our commitment to co-existence, unity, prosperity and wellbeing of our nation.

Thanksgiving Celebration is in its 15th year showcasing cultural diversity.

The 5th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides is to learn and to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and commit to avert such tragedies. Through this event non-Jewish people have consciously learned about Holocaust for the first time, it was also for the first time that people of 14 faiths came together to join in to commemorate the Holocaust that commemorated within the Jewish Community for years. They are not alone anymore in their anguish, we are all in it together with them, and it is a Muslim initiative to effect a positive change.

The programs, seminars and workshops conducted by the Foundation for Pluralism have become a part of the America Together Foundation. While the Foundation for Pluralism continues championing the idea of co-existence through respecting and accepting the otherness of other, the commitment to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress continues.

Mike is a speaker, thinker, collaborator and a writer on the subjects of Pluralism, the Interfaith Movement, Cohesive Societies, Islam, India, Hope and World Peace. Over 1000 of his articles have been published worldwide and two books are poised to be released this summer. His work is reflected in 4 websites and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net

To engage Mike in a dialogue, conference or a talk, write to Ghousespeaks@gmail.com and email dedicated for this purpose or you can call him on a short notice at 214.325.1916